The Rusk Cherokeean (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 1, 1944 Page: 4 of 6
six pages : ill. ; page 21.25 x 15.25 in. Digitized from 35 mm. microfilm.View a full description of this newspaper.
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THE RUSK CHEROKEEAN THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 1944
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There have been some high-sounding phrases written on what we
are fighting for. "To Make the World Safe for Democracy," "The Four
Freedoms," "The Atlantic Charter"—all just partial answers. It remain-
ed for ain American "G. I. Joe" to answer the question simply, clearly
and directly, in terims we can all understand. He is Cpl. Jack J. Zurofsky,
who last week was announced the winner of an essay contest conducted
by the war department among the fighting men of the Mediterranean
theatre on "Why I Fight."
With D-Day and the start of the Fifth War Loan Drive drawing
near, don't fail to read every word of the corporal's answer, and read it
remefmbering it is our fight as well as "G. I. Joe's." Here is his answer:
I fight because it's my fight.
I fight because my eyes are unafraid to look into other
eyes; because they have seen happiness and because
they have seen suffering; because they are curious and
searching; because they are free.
I fight because my ears can listen to both sides of a
question; because they can hear the groanings of a tor-
mented people as well as the laughter of free people; be-
cause they are a channel for information, not a route for
repetition; because, if I hear and do not think, I am deaf.
I fight because my mouth does not fear to utter my
opinions; because, though I am only one, my voice helps
forge my destiny because I can speak from a soapbox, or
from a letter to the newspapers, or from a question that I
may ask my representatives in congress; because when
my mouth speaks and can only say what everyone is forc-
ed to say it is gagged.
I fight because my knees kneel only to God.
I fight because my feet can go where they please, be-
cause they need no passport to go from New York to New
Jersey and back again; because if I want to leave my coun-
try I can go without being forced and without bribing and
without the loss of my savings; because I can plant my
feet on farm soil or city concrete without anybody's by-
your-leave; because when my feet walk only the way they
are forced to walk, they are hobbled.
I fight because of all of these and because I have a mind,
a mind which has been trained in a free school to accept
or to reject, to ponder and to weigh—a mind which knows
the flowing stream of thought, not the stagnant swamp
of blind obedience; a mind schooled to think for itself, to
be curious, skeptical, to analyze, to formulate and to ex-
press its opinions; a mind capable of digesting the intel-
lectual food it receives from a free press—because if a
mind does not think it is the brain of a slave.
I fight because I think 1 am as good as anybody else;
because of, what other people have said better than ever
1 could, "certain inalienable rights," "right to life, liber-
ty and the pursuit of happiness," "government of the peo-
ple, by the people, and for the people," "give me liberty
or give me death."
1 fight because of my memories—the laughter and play
of my childhood, the ball games I was in and better ones
I watched, my mother telling me why my father and she
came to America at the turn of the century, my sisters
marrying, my high school graduation, the first time I saw
a cow, the first year we could afford a vacation, the trip
to Camp Surprise Lake after the crowded polluted Coney
Island waters, hikes in the fall, with the many-colored
leaves falling, weenie and marshmallow roasts over a hot
fire, the first time I voted, my first date and the slap in
the face I got instead of the kiss I attempted, the way the
nostrum quack would alternate with political orators on
our street corner, seeing the changes for the better in my
neighborhood—the el going down, streets being widened
to let the sun in, new tenements replacing the old slums—
the crowd applauding the time I came through with the
hit that won us the borough championship; the memories,
which, if people like me do not fight, our children will
never have.
I fight because I have something to fight for.
I fight because of the life I hope to live when the fight-
ing is finished; because that life offers opportunity and
security and the freedom to read and write and listen and
think and talk; because, as before, my home will be my
castle and the drawbridge down only to those I invite;
because if I do not fight, life itself will be death.
1 fight because 1 believe in progress, not reaction; be-
cause despite our faults, there is hope in our manner of
life; because if we lose there is no hope.
I fight because some day I want to get married and I
want my cnildren to be born into a free world; because
my forefathers left me a heritage of freedom which it is
my duty to pass on; because if we lost it would be a crime
to have children.
I fight because it is an obligatiofi; because free people
must fight to remain free; because when the freedom of
one nation or one person is taken away the rights of all na-
tions and all people are threatened; because—through our
elected representatives—I had the choice: To fight or not
to fight.
I fight not so much because of Pearl Harbor but be-
cause of what Pearl Harbor meant; because, finally after
skirmishes with the Ethiopians, the Manchurians, the
Chinese, the Austrians, the Czechoslovakians, the Danes,
the Spaniards, and the Norwegians, Fascism was menac-
ing us as we had never before been menaced; because on-
ly the craven will not defend themselves.
I fight because "it is better to die than live on one's
knees."
I fight because only by fighting today will there be
peace tomorrow.
I fight because I am thankful that I am not on the other
side; because, but for the grace of God or an accident of
Nature, the brutalized Nazi could have been I and, but
for my fighting, will be my child.
1 fight in the fervent hope that those who follow me
will not have to fight again, but in the knowledge that if
they have to they will not be found wanting in the crisis.
I fight to remain free.
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This Advertisement Made Possible by the Following Business Firms and Individuals as a Contribution to the War Effort
AAA COUNTY COMMITTEE
RALPH BENTON
ALEX BLACK
BON FRANCIS
BROOKSHIRE BROS.
H. T. BROWN
FRANK BRUNT
CHEROKEE COUNTY NATIONAL
FARM LOAN ASSOCIATION
CHEROKEE COUNTY ELECTRIC
COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION
CHILDS PIGGLY-WIGGLY
CITIZENS STATE BANK
BUTLER GIN & CRATE FACTORY
JuE B. COPELANE
DECKARD'S CAFE
EDWARDS BROS. LUMBER CO.
M. B. ELLIS CASH GROCERY
E. R. GREGG
p & M STATE BANK & TRUST CO
FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGS A
LOAN ASSOCIATION OF RUSK
FORSTER GIN
GUINN & GUINN
HANNA & GUENZEL
CHEROKEE MOTORS
THOS. H. COBBLE, M. D.
TEXAS THEATRE
C. L. LANGSTON
E. B. LEWIS
V. J. LONG
FRANK L. MAIN
MEREDITH & PARKS
MRS. MINTER'S HOTEL & CAFE
MOSELEY DRUG STORE
JARED'S at TO $1.00 STORE
JOPLIN GROCERY & MARKET
MORRIS W. HASSELL
LEAH PARMLEY
B. B. PERKINS
JAMES I. PERKINS
PKKKY BROS.
ROTEN MATERIAL COMPANY
RUSK BOTTLING CO.
RUSK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
RUSK DRY GOODS COMPANY
RUSK KIWANIS CLUB
RUSK LIONS CLUB
THE SMART SHOP
MELVIN SESSIONS
SHERMAN DRUG STORE
T. M/'SHERMAN
J. FINAN SMITH
ED SINGLETARY
SOUTHWEST TELEPHONE CO
SOUTHWESTERN PUBLIC
SERVICE COMPANY
STOVALL CLEANERS
UNITED GAS CORPORATION
LEO W. TOSH INSURANCE AGCY
KAY B. URBAN, M. D.
WALLACE HARDWARE
MAURICE WALTERS
JOHNNIE WILLIAMS
WESTERN AUTO STORE
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Main, Frank L. The Rusk Cherokeean (Rusk, Tex.), Vol. 98, No. 17, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 1, 1944, newspaper, June 1, 1944; Rusk, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth326001/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Singletary Memorial Library.